


Fear, Relief and Love

by Blake_Belladonna_Defence_Force



Series: Bumbleby Oneshots [44]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28982397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blake_Belladonna_Defence_Force/pseuds/Blake_Belladonna_Defence_Force
Summary: Tumblr prompt of “Blake thinks Yang is dead w/ happy ending.”
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Series: Bumbleby Oneshots [44]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926181
Comments: 16
Kudos: 272





	1. Fear and Relief

_ Fear. _

It’s an emotion that Blake’s been intimately familiar with since her earliest recollection. Fear as her father stood in between her and human protestors hissing toxic words and threats at White Fang rallies. Fear as her mother bandages a wound on her father’s chest. Fear as dogs snapped at her heels and the sound of shouts drew nearer. Fear as a man’s passion and strength shifts to reveal control and spite.

Oh, Blake knows fear. She felt it the moment her team discovered her heritage and the threat of them hating her for what she’s done sinks in. She felt it when she realised that the White Fang was drawing closer, posing a far too real threat to those she loved. She felt it the moment she watched Yang shoot a seemingly innocent boy in his leg, leaving her terrified that she had made the same mistake twice.

But real fear, pure unfiltered terror, truly entered her as she laid prone before Adam Taurus and watched as he realised what Yang meant to her, seeing the truth within her eyes, and deciding to burn her from the inside out. She had felt fear as she carried a bleeding, unconscious Yang across campus and she had felt fear when she turned away from the medical team and ran. 

She had been scared that she had broken the bond they had shared and then, she had been scared during that moment on the bridge, her ear rotating towards Adam as he had growled before launching his attack. She had been scared that he had gotten into Yang’s head, scared that Yang wouldn’t believe her, wouldn’t trust her.

_ “I know you won’t.” _

But Yang held her, accepted her,  _ trusted  _ her; she had soothed her until her fear had faded and Blake finally felt truly safe.

But all of that fear, all of that pain…

It pales in comparison to the fear she feels when Marrow finds them and tells them of Yang, Ren and Jaune jumping into the mouth of Salem’s whale to rescue a kidnapped Oscar.

It pales in the face of the knowledge that Ironwood planned on blowing that very whale up, whether or not they were still inside.

Nothing can compare to the way her heart stops, her eyes going wide, at the sound of an explosion. Nothing can prepare her for the sight of watching Salem’s whale go up in flames.

_ “Yang!” _

A scream rips itself from her throat and she fights against the arms that wrap around her body, desperately trying to push away from Marrow as he tries to hold her back. Her breath comes in short, hyperventilating pants, her body shaking with uncontrollable sobs as Marrow slowly lowers her to the floor and watches helplessly as Blake collapses in on herself, fingers digging into her arms as she cries, loud and heartbroken.

It isn’t until she hears Ruby approach, returning from the generator, her voice wavering as she asks what had happened, that she pulls herself together. She climbs to stumbling feet and catches Ruby as she falls, landing on their knees and holding the younger girl to her chest and gritting her teeth as she sobs, her heart twisting painfully within her chest. 

Yang Xiao Long, the epitome of strength and safety in Blake’s eyes, is dead and Blake has to live with the fact that she had been too scared to tell her the truth about her feelings for fear of ruining what they had…

Only now, what they had is gone and it’s  _ never  _ coming back.

* * *

_ Relief. _

It’s an emotion Yang knows well. She felt it every time Summer Rose had returned from a mission, safe and sound. She felt it the day her uncle had saved her and her sister from a pack of Beowolves when they were small. She had felt with every exam she crushed and she had certainly felt it when she saw her acceptance letter to Beacon.

Yang knows relief, she felt it the moment she made eye contact with Blake Belladonna in the words and saw, for the first time, a glimpse of the girl beneath her stoic mask as she smirked at her. She felt it when they had worked as a team to take down a Nevermore, a mech, and a multitude of other Grimm. She felt it when Blake returned to them after running for the first time, felt it when Blake pulled her onto the dance floor with a coy smile and a soft giggle. She felt it when they reunited at Haven and she felt it when she pulled Blake, safe and sound, into her arms at the Argus waterfalls.

She felt it, too, as she watched Blake stand a little taller and grow into herself, becoming bolder and more confident every day.

She feels it when, bleeding and bruised, she finds her way back to the Schnee mansion and stumbles through the door, swallowing thickly as a scythe and a rapier are pointed at her before she’s all but tackled to the ground by Ruby and Weiss. They cry, as she holds them tightly to her, before she asks them quietly where Blake is, terror coiling tight in her gut when she cast each other a look before directing her to a guest bedroom, with nothing more said beyond “Blake’s safe… but she’s not okay.”

When she sees her partner, curled up into a tight ball as muffled sobs wracked her body, her relief shifts to guilt as she realises just how badly her supposed death had affected Blake, despite her partner’s best efforts to remain strong for the others.


	2. Love and Home

It’s with slow and heavy steps that Yang approaches her partner’s side, sitting by her and swallowing thickly as she curls in on herself.

“Blake?”

“No.” Blake mumbles, her voice a painful rasp as she trembles. “No, she’s gone. She’s not here. This isn’t real. She’s gone.” 

Yang’s heart breaks and she slowly reaches over, placing a gentle hand on Blake’s shoulder and gently rubbing it, her movements soft and tender as Blake’s freezes. “Try again, Belladonna. I’m here. I’m safe. Just sit up for me, yeah?”

A strangled noise escapes Blake’s throat as she sits up and turns a reddened, tear stained face upon Yang. Her breathing quickens, her ears pinning flat against her head as her hands twitch towards Yang, and her voice breaks when she speaks. “Yang?”

“Yeah. It’s me.” Yang murmurs, her voice thick, as she takes Blake’s hand and guides it to her heart, pressing her palm firmly against her chest and smiling through her tears at her partner. “It’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than some stupid explosion to take me away from you, Blake. I’m not leaving you either.”

A sobs escapes Blake then and she launches herself across the bed and into Yang’s arms, her fingers digging into Yang’s shoulders as she clings to her desperately. Yang holds her tightly, rocking back and forth and soothing her, despite the sharp pain in her body from her injuries. Blake whimpers into Yang’s neck and Yang lets out a shaky breath of her own, burying her own tears into Blake’s shoulder as they sit and cry. 

When Blake finally pulls back, she reaches up for Yang’s jaw and brings their foreheads together, her breath ghosting over Yang’s lips shakily as Yang keeps her hold gentle around Blake’s waist. “I thought I  _ lost  _ you.” Blake whispers, her body shuddering beneath Yang’s soothing touch as her hands gently stroke patterns into her back. “I- we saw the explosion and- and you- Marrow told us you went into the whale to save Oscar and-“

“Shhhh. I know. I’m sorry.” Yang soothes, her chest twisting violently as Blake’s voice breaks. She hesitates before placing a tender kiss to the bridge of Blake’s nose, lingering when Blake’s breathing hitches, and sighs. “But I’m here and I’m okay. You didn’t lose me.”

“But I  _ could have  _ and I still  _ could  _ lose you!” Blake insists, leaning back from Yang and staring up at her with a sense of desperation and heartache in her amber gaze. “I can’t- I don’t want you to die not knowing that I—“

“That you… what, Blake?” Yang encourages gently when her partner falters, her heart racing and her skin burning as Blake looks at her with an unusually intense expression. “You can tell me.”

“I don’t want you to die… not knowing that I love you.” Blake breathes, her hands now resting upon Yang's collarbone, her fingers splayed out against Yang’s skin. “That choosing you was the  _ best  _ decision I’ve ever made. I don’t want you to die thinking that you’re just a co-worker or a friend. You’re so much  _ more,  _ Yang, and I need you to know that.”

“Oh.” Yang says, uttering the word far more quietly than she ever had. She swallows thickly and lets out a watery laugh, leaning forward until her lips are close enough to brush against Blake’s own without  _ really  _ connecting. “I love you too. So,  _ so  _ much.”

And when Blake surges forward, her fingers entangling into Yang’s hair as Yang’s arms curl around her waist, Yang feels fear for what they could lose and she feels relief for what they had gained…

But mostly, she just feels an overwhelming sense of love for the woman in her arms and a powerful urge to  _ always  _ come back home to her.

Because that’s what they had become to each other; home, encapsulated by the sliver of their souls reflected in each other’s eyes. A home that they would always return to… and a home that they would  _ always  _ protect.


End file.
